Yes, I am on the adrenalin rush as soon as I am away from the routine of my life. Happiness is not a quantity of what I achieve – it naturally fills me up for the reason that there is no better reason to be away from the regular routines of life to explore and find the hidden self. The real true self of me that fears no one and loves everything around be it the tiny ant or a huge elephant(though I didn’t meet any of them) yet the feeling is constantly ringing inside me from the moment I am up for exploring this Adventure.
This very adventure was already lit from the last night experience of first time seeing a real folklore play in the real traditional way in a small town of Lochinver Pub, followed by a beautifully starry milky way so much to see that eyes can’t believe in its beauty, the sparkling water of Achmelvich (Yeah, I mean it). These five brilliant student from the University of Glasgow, invited me to join in – Jump along, we are going to see the real sparkles in the water (Yes, it does sparkle when you step inside the water). At 2am, we jump on the beach in total darkness, and hey hey… the minute we scratch our feet in the cold water – it wasn’t as cold as it initially felt although the air factor was chillier than water. I have never seen something this amazing ever – the water does glitter if you put your feet in it and go further ashore. Some of them decided to strip and jump in water while the scene was too unreal – half skies rain – half skies milky way – the waves of the sea and everything seemed to be nothing more amazing than a dream – Was a reality instead.

I have packed myself up for a road trip aiming for real sense of adventure beyond a ordinary scraps of travel and motorcycling. I have taken a step beyond and loaded my car(first ever personal life-time adventure that involves the car) with the bicycle to explore the Sandwood Bay – not much that I could find on the internet about cycling terrain and whether it was suitable. There were traces of unconfirmed information but that was enough to put the strings together for a unknown experience. You can possibly get a glimpse of the track on the Google maps(Satelite view). The day so far has been Amazing, Sunny, partially rainy and quite windy – if that sums up, it was good as long as Sun was out there. So After my little explore and walk around The Old Man of Stoer I was headed now to Blairmore, Sutherland.

The jouney from Stoer to Blairmore can be described as seen below :

When I reached there, it was just the passing cloud which didn’t dampen the spirits to go on and push myself. The first quick act to put the bike together as I had the wheels apart. The rain started to get heavier and my helmet goPro mount gave up. Hence no videos from the move and I did miss the action because my face fall was left unseen, several small water crossings, the water gullies that made me flip over one with face down, a slide through the sand while coming down rushing in full adrenalin but that is all for my personal memories now.

So the first stop coming through the rain shower covering some distance and after the first fall, it was time to share this moment to all the people out there.

& the surface becomes even more smooth – the second fall, a gentle one managing to get our big boulders and trying over balancing act on a non-MTB.

The time to hit the sand tracks and yeah, you just can’t get through the tracks – they are proper challenge to get through on a hybrid 🙂 bike.

Time to give up the bike, and walk the end bit.

& the moment Finally. The emotions, the peace, the calm and the surreal beauty in nature. It can’t be better although no complaints about the weather, I enjoyed it pretty much, made me feel like 13 riding through the amazing rough terrain to the bay.

The last and the final bit before the return. I ran wild through the dunes, rolled, jumped and even had sand in my mouth – that is power of kid inside you.

For those more keen on breakdown of the ride .. Nothing really compared to everyday 20mile per hour ride but the obstacles slow you down pretty hard towards the end of the ride. The last 4 to 6 kms is where you will have to get off the bike everytime you see the water gullies made between uneven boulders.

The Last bit of the graph above shows the points where the falls happened and in the last 40th minute flip(Ass up, face down moment).

The last of the series, is the Cape Wrath. The last Northwest Frontier of the Mainland UK. The area used by Ministry of Defence(MOD) for good part of the year. Watch out this space.

I have been away too far too long and hence I shall return to my own little space. Been taken away from the emotions, the pain that few jealous ones provided me … but none too great than coming back home.